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Hi
All this seems highly complicated to me.
I bought my old Pulsar 2.7 m Ob's online. It was in Yorkshire and we had to move it to Hertfordshire. My daughter, son in law and myself easily lifted the dome off when we were diss-assembling it. I got two neighbours to help lift it back on when I had re-assembled it.
I went through this procedure twice as I decided to drop the height by taking a ring of sections out. Later, when I wished to take the dome off again, I got three golfing friends to help.
It sat on the lawn for some time and showed no sign of lifting when it was windy.
I'm contemplating access to the rollers and surface but intend just to lift it up onto wooden blocks and expect to accomplish this on my own.
Last time I had anything to do with Acrows they were nasty heavy things, necessary for supporting the roof while part of the wall was taken away, but not the sort of thing I want anywhere near my glass fibre pride and joy.
If you were near me I would offer to pop round and lend a hand. How about asking at your astro' society?
Ted

Padding Thanks P - New version has Settings> User applications> Footer padding. Old version has only the settings page with no padding.
Rotation Neither the pad nor my phone wants to rotate at the moment but my memory says the pad used to.
Pad Both pad and phone are android.
I'm off to Spain soon. I used to take my 'goto' handset out with me and use it on my supertrack mount out there. I'm going to take the Wifi module and use my phone this time. Although with the light pollution I'm not sure why I bother. But if I do use it to any extent I may leave the wifi unit there and buy a new one.

Two years ago!
In case anyone is currently having problems, an update.
I eventually put 'stick on' rubber insulation on the inside of the dome. This completely kills the worst condensation inside the dome and is usefully black. (if you are putting it on in cold weather, warm the fibreglass with a heat-gun before applying). I now happily leave books and charts out when previously they would have been damaged. Come to think of it I also leave a computer, a video camera and other electronic equipment out there now.
I use a good waterproof cover over the scope which already has a dust sheet on it. The dust sheet remains dry now (it used to feel damp even when there was no noticeable dampness elsewhere).
I also run an ordinary de-humidifier, with a tube to dispose of the water outside the observatory. It was the easiest first thing I did to control my problem. It may not work when it gets very cold but it does keep the observatory dry. I guess you get no condensation when all the water is frozen solid! It is possible that I could do away with this now I have the insulation, but I feel happier with it running when I am away.
On 'Sky at night' they say 'keep looking up' but 'keep yourself warm and dry' as well, and your equipment dry.

It does not seem like 3 years+ since this conversation. I was prompted to revisit it after reading the latest (Feb 18) Sky at night - 'Scope Doctor'.
Part of my response to Steve was:
My solution was to purchase two magnets of the type used to stick signs to taxi cab roofs (Ebay). These are of sufficient weight to place on the rear of the OTA and move to the point where the rig is balanced.
I have also found the bolt on the top of these magnets extremely useful as it allows you to attach other instruments to the OTA without damage or modification and putting them at the position where the rig is perfectly balanced.
It seems appropriate to copy it here and thank Seedy & Jeremy for starting me in the right direction.
Ted

RDP Said my pad did not have enough memory.
I have Teamviewer loaded and controlling my Obs PC from the pad. It remains to be seen if this solves my problem when I go back to the observatory. Like you I have big fingers, even for an 8" pad rather than a phone, and will have to use the little tool (touch pen). My experience, so far, is that this does not work well on the display as the temperature goes down (I need a damp finger).
I don't think remote use of Stellarium from the pad is a goer, but then I wanted to use the pad for alignment, it is no problem to use the laptop once aligned.
One way or another I expect I will have to buy a larger pad. It is a pity that the direction controls on the Synscan Wifi do not take up more of the screen. The other Icons are well spresad out so there is lots of room.
What teamviewer did (on my Obs HP laptop) is change my display settings, making the icons small and Stelarium go off bottom of the page so that I could not close it down. It did not do this to the (Lenovo) computer on my desk. Both run Win 10.
As usual at new moon we have cloud but I want to be sorted for the next clear sky.

I sufferred most of the above problems with my first purchase including an insubstantial tripod which moved as the OTA moved and made the GOTO impossible.
Two things kept me going and stopped the whole thing from gathering dust in the loft.
1. My engineering background and patience.
2. The fact that my supplier allowed a 100% trade in for the first year.
If all suppliers alllowed the trade in and gave all purchasors a contact at their nearest Astro Society, it would go a long way towards stopping the loss of otherwise keen entrants to the hobby.

Interesting comment.
I have recently bought the Synscan wifi unit and used it both to control my rig with an android pad and via my obs laptop PC. I have issues with both methods but one of the big poroblems using the PC is that an initial goto alignment is virtually impossible unless you have 6' arms. Do your observations tell me that I can set up the goto with my android pad and continue using stellarium via my pc?
I will try it next time I am observing.

Thanks very much both.
I was going to bring the scope indoors and play in the warmth tomorrow. Somehow I don't get cold observing but got too cold staring at a screen and scratching my head last night. But now I think I should be able to progress with your advice and I'll bring the obs laptop and prepare indoors and have another go outside when I get the chance. I avoided Michael's basic error but think I have made another one.
I'll let you know.

Thanks for info.
Spent a l ong time in the obs last night.
Downloaded and unzipped the two files onto the Dell laptop (Win10) I have in the obs.
Found I needed latest Ascom software. Lots of troubles with this as the dell did not seem to want it's old ascom software (inherited with laptop) deleted.
Eventually overcame this and tried to take the route in the information file. (Many times). This comes to a halt with:
"Connect your mount to your PC using a suitable RS232 cable, with a USB to serial adaptor if required, turn the mount on and align it. For testing a quick align will do. Choose your telescope in the ASCOM chooser"
There was no sign of the "ASCOM chooser"!
Anyone help from here?
Notes:
I have already had the rig working with wifi module and Android pad.
I have used Stelleraium via a seril link and my handset.
There are no symbols relating to the wifi anywhere.
The laptop sees and connects to the wifi unit.
I have tried entering my scope detail when running ascom diagnostics (and lots of other things I can think of).

Clear sky soon after getting home tonight. My chance to try the new synscan wifi out. I can't tell if what you say is the case or not but what I can tell you is that my 10" dob has always become less and less accurate the more targets I looked at, but using the wifi dongle and and an 8" pad and 90 minutes looking at many targets all over the sky my targets were still near to centre even though I had started with a two star set-up in the same part of the sky. I am most impressed with this.
I need much more time with the app and a description of all the functions available would be useful before I can give a proper review, but fist thoughts:
Cons
(some of these these may just be my pad)
The pad is not so reactive too my fingers in the cold night air which makes me wonder how it will perform when the temperature goes back below zero.
I am long sighted but have very little astigmatism so leave my glasses on a keeper when observing, the handset is tactile and I can find the buttons without looking, I have to put my glasses back on to use the pad.
When the pad switches off to save battery, it comes back on, on the bright initial screen. You could read Sky at Night by the moon tonight so I had no 'night sight', but it will be a problem on dark nights.
The ap/pad sometimes takes a moment to react so you hit it again and the new sceen comes up as you do and the rig hurtles off to a new target.
The star list is in order of magnitude which does not help when you are looking for a named star. I have problems with the deepsky list as well but need more time with it.
I used 25% of the power on my pad after 90 mins, will it last for a long session?
My fingers are too big. I hit the wrong pointers etc and it would be worse with a phone rather than the 8" pad. I started using the little rubber tipped thing but this sufferred from the (cold) effect already noted (I needed a damp finger).
For
The accuracy. Just for this alone I will continue to use it.
Ease of setting up. Time and location spot on even though I have no GPS.
I would have stayed out there but have to get up in the am.
More when I have used it again.
Goodnight.

Mmm
Maybe 'stuck with' sounds a bit strong. But stuck with seems to be the case. I seem to have to move from Stellarium to SkySafari and up a fair bit of cash as well.
CDC means 'Control Data Corporation' or 'Computer Digital Control' to me and I do not know a lot about Ascom except that it seems to be an interface between programs and equipment for control of astro devices. I have not had to think about this too much so far. But it seems to be cropping up as I start looking at control and my new toy.
Where can I get a primer? (Any real software expertise I posses is 40 years old, so plain English would be useful).

" Using the car's own battery to power your equipment probably isn't a good idea. Imagine the scenario. You've spent several hours observing / imaging using the car battery to power the equipment and you pack the gear away and then attempt to start the engine. The night is cold (lead acid batteries are less efficient in the cold) and the battery has been drained to a point where it cannot turn the engine over. What do you do ........? "
Park on a slope when you arrived (assuming manual transmission)?